Update #24, March 2016

Dear IDS Members, Dear Friends,

With this email, I like to inform you about some important news regarding our International Dermoscopy Society.

After 6 years, Prof. Giuseppe Argenziano has decided to leave his role as President of the IDS and the new presidency was given to me, Iris Zalaudek.

I am greatly honored for the trust and I like to express, on behalf the IDS, our gratitude to him for the passion and dedication to our society. I worked with Geppi Argenziano during these 6 years as Secretary of our Society and it was a great pleasure and honor for me. It is my obligation to guarantee to continue his work with the same efforts and passion for our Society. Although Geppi will leave the guidance of our Society, he will remain an active member in our society.

As past president, he likes to send you herein his personal message:

It’s been a great honor to serve you for 6 years as the President of the International Dermoscopy Society. In these years, dermoscopy expanded worldwide and became a standard of care for thousands clinicians all around the world. The IDS played definitely a central role to improve knowledge and establish standards in the field of dermoscopy. Now it’s my great pleasure to leave the lead in the hands of Iris Zalaudek and Aimilios Lallas, who will, I am sure, bring the society to further great achievements.With all my best regardsGeppi Argenziano

With this change, the IDS welcomes also 2 new Board Members:
It is my pleasure to introduce and welcome Dr. Aimilios Lallas as the new Secretary and Dr. Philipp Tschandl as new Executive Board Member of the IDS.

I know Aimilios and Philipp personally and it is a pleasure to know that our society will have with them two young, dynamic and passionate new Representatives.

In his role as the new Secretary of the IDS, Aimilios likes to address his personal message to you:

I am happy to welcome you in this new challenging era for the IDS. I would like to invite you to actively participate in all our activities the forthcoming period, which will lead us to the 5th World Congress of Dermoscopy, to be held in Thessaloniki, Greece in June 2018. By visiting our brand-new website, you can keep yourselves updated on the several activities of the IDS and take advantage of the valuable educative material.I would also like to invite you to regularly read and actively support the official journal of the IDS (Dermatology Practical and Conceptual), by submitting your research items.Finally, I would like to deeply thank our past President Geppi Argenziano for everything he has done up to date to promote dermoscopy around the globe. Big words are needless for great people. Everybody in the field knows the degree of his contribution to what dermoscopy is today. We are committed to continue in his way, ensuring that the IDS will remain an open Society, focusing mainly on the training of our young colleagues, the promotion of research and knowledge in our field and the benefit of our patients.With my best regardsAimilios Lallas

1. Proposal for taking over the production of the CD-ROM “Dermoscopy a Practical Guide”

The society was contacted by the AAD to share the properties of the CD-ROM with the IDS, whereby the IDS can decide in which way the CD-ROM will be provided. The EB agreed in exploring the possibility of providing the CD-ROM online. The images, provided as in power point format, will be divided in modules, and shall be accessible via a dedicated website. Dr. Zalaudek will be in contact with the AAD with regard to the payment, contracts and possibilities to do so.

2. Election of new Representatives

Dr. Argenziano resigned from the presidency of the Society. Dr. Zalaudek was proposed as the new president and Dr. Lallas as the new secretary. The EB elected and approved Dr. Zalaudek as new IDS president and Dr Lallas as the new secretary of the International Dermoscopy Society. Dr Hofmann-Wellenhof was confirmed as treasurer.
The EB agreed to the proposal to elect in the future the Representatives every 3 years, during the World congress of the IDS. Dr. Zalaudek will take care of changing the bylaws in this regard.
The EB agreed on the proposal to renew the board members and by changing the election of board members representing a specific country. Upon approval of the bylaws, each candidate, who is or applies for the board membership as representatives for a country, will be elected by the Society members of the representative country. Thereby the number of representative board members will be based on the proportion of overall number of members/country to the overall number of members of the Society. The mission of the board members will be to promote education and spread of dermoscopy in their country, and to represent the referral person for their geographic area.

The EB agreed that the executive meetings will be alternatively held in Europe and US, during the EADV and AAD meetings, once per year. The general assembly of the board will continue to take place in conjunction with the EADV meeting.
The next EB meeting and general assembly will take place inconjunction with the upcoming EADV meeting, September 28 to October 2, 2016 in Vienna. The exact location and date of the meeting shall be anncounced in May 2016.

4. Dermatology practical and conceptual as the official journal of the IDS

Dr Marghoob asked the board to more actively contribute to the Journal. A mass mail will be sent to all the board members to invite them to submit their research to the Journal. In the same time the Editor of the journal will start making the steps to get an Impact Factor to the journal. Dr. Stolz proposed to include guideline and review papers, perhaps written by professional medical writes. The proposal will be further discussed via email. Dr. Zalaudek made the proposal to provide review papers on a specific topic that should be linked and underlined with IDS podcasts.

5. Proposal for welcoming Philipp Tschandl as new Member oft he Excecutive Board

The EB agreed in welcoming Philipp Tschandl as executive board member (Statistical Advisor).

6. Final report on the treasurer

The treasurer reported on the incomes and expenses for the year 2015. In particular, the congress in Vienna was very successful and the EB thanked Dr. Kittler for the great event. The EB agreed to use again the money for travel grants and IDS prizes for the next upcoming work congress to be held in June 2018 in Thessaloniki, Greece.

7. Expanding updates, eduction and information about the activities of the IDS

More efforts should be done to promote the IDS and the upcoming world congress of the IDS in new media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

8. Membership fee

The EB discussed the possibility of introducing a membership fee for the members, and finally decided to keep the membership for free.

9. Proposal for funding studies

The EB started a discussion on the possibility to fund study proposals, especially if coming from developing countries. The discussion will be continued.

I personally like to thank also you, as the steadily growing community of members of the IDS, for your trust and the past, present and future promotion of dermoscopy and the exchange of knowledge and experience with regard to dermoscopy.